Alone
by Electric Ella
Summary: Fourteen year old Claire is left in shock when her mother disappears without a trace. Will she ever see her mother again? And will her new friendships last? Trust will be broken, friendships may become more and the world will never be the same.
1. Fear

The Sparticle Mystery 

_A/N This is my first Sparticle mystery fanfiction and I'm not sure how long it will be. So it might end up being a full length, or maybe not, I just haven't decided. It would be really nice if you could review this for me, I like to know what you think of my writing. So happy reading, enjoy! _

Claire was watching television when it happened.

"Claire!" Her mother called. She had called several times before Claire actually went to find her, just to see what was going on.

Her mum wasn't in the kitchen. Claire checked the dining room – nothing. There was no reply from upstairs. All the rooms were empty. She wasn't in the bathroom, or anywhere else. Claire, her panic rising, went out to the garage. The door was locked, so she went through the back way. Her mum was probably just getting something from in there.

The door swung open. The garage was empty, save for the car and the tins of paint and screwdrivers.

"Mum? Quit hiding from me", Claire called out. "I'm fourteen, not four anymore. This isn't funny."

Never had silence been so deafening.

She ran out into the street, and a grim sight awaited her. The few cars were just abandoned, lying empty in the middle of the road. Where was everyone?

Claire rushed back into the house, terror building inside her. There was a sharp knot, wound tightly inside her stomach. She went up to her bedroom, and grabbed her mobile. No signal.

There was no dialling tone on the house phone. Her mum's mobile was dead. The knot inside her wound itself into a tight pain, as she found that there was no internet, radio, or television. Just static.

Claire slumped on the couch. She had no idea what to do, nowhere to go. She couldn't contact anyone, and to leave the house would be madness, if her mum suddenly came back. She just couldn't understand what had happened. Nothing made any sense: there was electricity, but nothing to run on it. It was as if the people had left, very suddenly, and there was nothing she could do about it. She had never felt so lonely in her life.

If only she could contact her dad, but he was at work, a twenty minute car journey away.

Two musical notes, were both the most frightening, and the most comforting thing she had heard that afternoon.

-Ding Dong-

She screamed, then changed her mind and grabbed her Swiss army knife (a mini version – her parents wouldn't trust her with an actual blade) in her left hand. She carefully opened the door a little, just wide enough so that she could peer through and see –

"George!"

"Claire! You're alright!"

"It's so good to see you! I thought I was-"

"On my own." Her friend finished the sentence for her. "I've been worried sick. My mum went out to get a pint of milk – twenty minutes ago. I went to find her, and all the streets are empty, and the shop was empty too. Where is everyone? I saw a group of kids running into people's unlocked houses, and just taking whatever they could find. Whatever's happened, it's not safe for you to be on your own."

"We have to find Christie and Mel. In fact, they'll be in Mel's house – they were having a sleepover. Bring them back here, my house is the biggest." When she said that, she wasn't boasting, she was just making a statement.

"Get a backpack with some essentials in it, just in case." George put a travelling bag down on the couch. "I'll wait here for you, and I'm going to try and get phone signal or something."


	2. Friendship

Chapter 2

A/N _thanks for reading! Enjoy and (yes, I know, I'm being annoying now) please review. It helps me improve my writing and lets me know what you think. So, back to the story..._

They passed a few kids on the way. It was a Saturday afternoon, but definitely not a normal one. Some of them pushed trolleys full of food, games, anything they could get their hands on.

At last they reached the house. They rang the bell a few times, then, after no answer, they let themselves in. This was, after all, an emergency. The teenagers dumped their backpacks in the hallway, and that's where George stayed, while Claire went upstairs to find the girls.

"Surprise, surprise." Claire walked into the room, to find the pair snoring loudly. There were packets of sweets all over the floor, and the television, which had been left on, buzzed with static.

"Morning...Oh! Wait-why the actual heck are you in my house?" Christie usually spoke like that. Her religion didn't allow her to use profanity, so she just made up combinations of words instead.

"Hey. Come downstairs and have breakfast and we'll tell you what you've missed."

"_We? _Who else did you bring? And how did you get in?"

"No one answered the doorbell and the house was unlocked."

"But, mum always locks it."

"Ah, well..." Claire proceeded to tell them everything she knew. Somewhere in the middle of it all, Mel woke up with a similar reaction to her friend. They were both very confused, and didn't actually believe Claire until they had searched the entire house without any sign of their parents.

"I'm scared." Sensitive Christie sat down on the living room floor, her arms around her knees. Her long dark hair almost reached the floor from her crumpled position.

George wasn't usually the comforting one, but he smiled encouragingly and said "Look, it's going to be ok. You need to get some things together and come back to Claire's. It's the best place for us at the moment, and we need to figure out what to do."

While George was reassuring Christie, Claire had gone into the kitchen and snatched up a newspaper from the table. She ran into the living room, and tossed it down on the floor in front of them.

"Look! Front page. There." She stabbed her finger into the picture. "She's called Dr Dora Petty. Something to do with new particles. I don't know much, but I know enough to know that this can't be a coincidence."

Mel, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, had been scanning the article. "Look here" she said, pointing. "The Sparticle Project will be switched on at eleven am this morning."

"That's when my mum went out to the shop." George said, looking anxious.

"Can we have this conversation later? I think the priority here is to get supplies, and get back to Claire's house." Christie had apparently not been reassured by George's speech.

They trooped back to the house, along with all the food from Mel's house. They had stopped off at George's house as well, and he brought some more supplies and things. They all locked their houses up carefully; to make sure no children could get their hands on anything.


	3. Intrigue

A/N _Sorry its taken me a while to update! I've been pretty busy with school and stuff_. _Thanks so much for your reviews! Like I said, this is my first Sparticle Mystery fanfic, and it's great to know what I can improve on. I've updated the first couple of chapters to correct some minor errors, and this is the third chapter. Again, keep the reviews coming! Happy reading! _

Chapter 3 – Intrigue

Claire's house was big enough for everyone they picked up. They were all in a group of friends previously, but George felt he should make sure everyone came. There were six of them in total. As well as Claire, Christie, Mel and George, there was Luke and Aaron.

Claire shared a room with the two other girls, and the boys split themselves into the spare bedrooms. It was a good arrangement, and the group jelled together firmly. Meals were always prepared and cooked by George (he was the only person who studied cooking at school) and they ate together. There was always a friendly social atmosphere in the house, a bit like a small organised camp. When Christie pointed that out, she received several withering looks and a reply of: "Well, it's a pity the adults aren't here to toast marshmallows with us." From then on, Christie tried to be careful with what she said, but she had an unusual way of talking, and often irritated Luke and Aaron.

Everyone had something to remember their parents by: a photograph, a piece of jewellery, even an old pair of shoes. One evening, they sat down in the meeting room (basically the living room with extra chairs put in) and tried to figure out what on earth was going on.

"They disappeared, around eleven on Saturday morning. Exactly the time when the Sparticle Project was switched on." Mel had the newspaper article in her hand. She had insisted that they put it in a plastic wallet to keep it safe – after all, it was their last hope of understanding where all the adults had gone.

"Okay, but that could be just a coincidence. No-one really knows anything about this Sparticle Project, and the adults were operating it. I trust them, and they wouldn't do anything that would put us in danger." Luke was very fond of his dad, and looked up to him. His mum was no longer with them, and no one really knew the story behind that, but didn't want to ask.

"Well what was it then?" Aaron was always straight to the point. He didn't believe in wasting time, or being gentle with his speech. "Aliens. Or a mass nuclear wave that somehow killed the adults and left us."

"The adults are still alive. I would know if they weren't. I think I would..._feel_ something." George said. He had been studying the article closely, and pointed at the centre of the picture. "This Dora person, in the photo on the front page, is holding a piece of paper, but I can't read what it says. Have you got a magnifying glass?"

Claire nodded, and brought one down from a bookshelf. The walls were lined with the shelves, and Claire liked it. She liked being surrounded by words, and the smell of paper.

George manoeuvred the magnifying glass until he was able to read it. "There's an ending of a word, which is obscured with her hand. And then: energy, power..." He trailed off. "The rest is too difficult to read. But my guess would be that this Sparticle Project is supposed to bring us more power, you know, like fuels."

Luke still looked sceptical. "The Government would have had meetings and stuff, wouldn't they? Why haven't we heard about this until now?"

Christie spoke up again: "I'm really tired. I don't understand what any of you are talking about, and I think it's best to take a fresh view on this in the morning." The other girls agreed, and all went up to their room to get ready for bed. The boys however, stayed downstairs to chat.

Luke looked a bit worried. "Guys, I have something to tell you."

They looked at him, serious now. "If you don't want to tell us now, you don't have to." George said gently.

Luke shook his head. "No, I want to tell you now. If I don't, I'll struggle to find another time to tell you." There was a short pause, in which everyone stared uncomfortably at the ceiling.

"I'm bisexual." It was a shock, to hear Luke speak so confidently. He was normally quiet and unassuming, but this was something that, unlikely as it seems, bring out his confidence.

There was no pause this time. Both George and Aaron started talking at once. There was a lull in the chatter, and no one knew what to say. Eventually, Luke broke the silence with "I'm tired. See you in the morning."

No one had any idea of the shock awaiting them the next morning.


	4. Confusion

A/N _so are you enjoying the story so far? I know I'm really pushing it now, but can you please review? Thanks so much for the reviews so far, they've been so helpful. And now I'm going to shut up about reviews and actually write the story now...happy reading! _

Chapter 4 – Confusion

Claire opened her green eyes. Maybe, today, the adults would come back. They'd say it was just a big, sick, practical joke that couldn't wait for April fool's Day. Her mum would come back, and give her a big hug, and smile, and laugh her beautiful laugh while her soft curls flounce all over her heart-shaped face. They were coming back. They were, she knew it. She would see her mum again.

Claire's eyes filled with the tears she had been keeping back since the day before. She ran downstairs in her pyjamas, outside, barefoot, still screaming. George ran after her, shouting her name.

"Claire!" George sounded worried. "The parents aren't back yet. I went out to check this morning. There's no sign of anyone. This street is a total ghost town. I think everyone's left." Claire hid her face with her blonde hair, curtains of it fell over her face, which was now scarlet with embarrassment at the thought that George had actually seen her in her pyjamas.

"Stop panicking. Screaming your mum's name isn't going to help anything. Now go inside, get some clothes on and I'll make you breakfast. Surprisingly, you didn't wake the others, so try to let them sleep – at least for a little while."

She was silent. The scarlet cheeks said it all. As soon as she was back inside, she tugged on some jeans and a faded sweater that she had had for years. The polka dot pattern was all but gone, and it was stretched as far down as her knees. She ran a brush through her hair and went downstairs, to find a table set with pancakes and orange juice.

"Thanks." Her voice was emotionless, but her smile was all the thanks George needed. They ate, quietly chatting about what they missed of their parents.

"My mum used to wake me up by knocking on my door, and then if I didn't reply, she would come in and pull the covers off my feet...I hated it so much, but I wish she would do that today. I want her to scream at me, I don't care what she's like, I just want my mum back."

George nodded sympathetically. "My mum used to wear this perfume that smelled like coconut. I even miss that, even though it made the whole house smell like..." he trailed off.

"What? What's wrong?" Claire was suddenly alert. George was always so sure of himself; it was strange to hear him be so uncertain and shy.

"It's just...I feel like we're talking about the parents in the past tense. I can't bear to think like..." He stopped talking. All through his uncertain, haltingly paced speech, Claire had been biting her lip to stop the tears welling in her large green eyes. A dot of bright red had appeared on her lower lip, and it had started to trickle down in a thin stream. She hadn't noticed, she was trying too hard not to cry.

Before he knew what he was doing, George grabbed a damp cloth and gently wiped the blood from her mouth. The tears in her eyes spilled over, and streamed down her pale cheeks. He pulled her closer, and hugged her. After a moment's hesitation, he felt her arms weakly around him. Neither knew what to say, but they didn't need to say anything. The comfort of each other's friendship was enough.

Her tears had mixed with her hair and it was tangled in knots all over her face. He leaned over her, to toss the stray strands aside, but was interrupted with: "Are you two quite finished?"

It was Christie. Trust her to be the one to see them like this. If it was one of his friends, George thought, they would just leave it and ask him about it later. But since it was one of her friends...he tried not to think about it.

"Morning," he said. "Pancakes for breakfast."

"Never mind breakfast!" Christie cried, "Look at this!" She handed him a copy of the new local newspaper. "Elections for the new government are going to be held soon. One of us could stand for it! And they need new nurses, police and countless other people."

"How is this happening so quickly?" Claire couldn't understand. "The adults have been missing for a day, and already we're deciding how to run the country! Isn't that a bit soon?"

"According to this, children have taken on their parents careers. That makes sense I suppose. Anyway, it could be complete rubbish. After all, it was probably written by an _aspiring _journalist." She said the word "Aspiring" like it left her with a bad taste.

The others all came down, and crowded around the paper. "Well, someone has apparently already made plans for rebuilding the world. Perhaps the adults were meant to leave, because they were ruining the earth's resources. Maybe we are the answer. Children are going to be the ones who save the planet! And when the earth has stopped with all the global warming, and all the wars have come to an end, maybe that's when the parents will come back!" Luke said it so enthusiastically that no one really wanted to contradict him.

A/N _I think Luke has been watching too much sci-fi to be honest. Well, you've found out the big shock that you knew was coming, from the last chapter. What do you think? And, just to say, all the characters are actually based on real people from my group of friends. Apart from any of the characters who are actually from the Sparticle Mystery series, of course. Thanks for reading! Please review!_


	5. Contentment

A/N_ Hi again! Sorry it's taking me so long to update this chapter...I've been insanely busy. Anyway, back to the story...and before I forget, please review! Thanks. _

Chapter 5 – Contentment

"Right, we'll be back in a few hours." Mel was leading the group of people (everyone except George and Claire) to find some food. They ran out of it rather suddenly, and were going to check the local supermarket. It was looking pretty bare lately, even though it had only been a few days since the adults left.

"ok." Claire smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. The others left.

"We need to find my mum's gardening stuff." Claire said decisively.

"Why?"

"Because we need to start a vegetable garden." Claire did that half smile again. "It's the only way we can survive. The supermarket won't last forever."

"Good point."

"I'll start digging. The garden spade is in the garage. You go look for the seeds. It's a big wooden box, I think." George looked surprised that she wanted to do the hard work, but knew better than to object.

So Claire began labouring with the heavy metal spade. The rust hurt her fingers, and the weight of it made her arms ache after a few minutes. She dug the spade into the solid ground once more, then sat down for a rest.

Just as she was about to get back up again, however, George came through the back door, holding several packets of seeds. "I'll take over shall I?"

At Claire's agreement, they worked as a great team. George dug a hole in the ground, then Claire threw in some seeds and then some water from a container she kept filling up. Soon about a quarter of the garden was taken up by their makeshift vegetable patch.

They sat down on the fluffy sofa, while they waited for the others to get back.

"I wish mum was here. She was...no, she _is _really good at gardening." George smiled at the memory.

"If your mum was here, my mum and dad would be here, and there would be no need for us to garden."

"True."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"George?"

"Yeah?"

"The others aren't back yet."

"I know."

"And it's been hours."

"I know."

"I'm scared."

"Me too."

"I'm hungry. I'll make dinner for us and if they're not back after that, I'll go and look for them while you hold the fort."

"No! What if something happened to them, and I don't want anything to happen to you." Claire's face turned a dark shade of scarlet.

"Let's just see, shall we?"


	6. Together

A/N _I just felt like updating again. Do you like the story so far? Please let me know if you do. And you can tell me if you don't, but please be constructive with your criticism. I'm sorry that it is taking so long for me to update, but life is getting in the way here. Thanks for reading! _

Chapter 6 - Together

Dinner was an awkward affair. George had cooked a simple meal of fried vegetables, since it was all they had left in the cupboards. Claire kept running her nail across a small scar on her wrist, an action that looked painful and made George cringe.

"I can't stand it anymore. They're not coming back, are they?" George spoke through gritted teeth.

"I'm not letting you go out there on your own. And I don't want to stay here on my own."

"But someone has to-"

"ENOUGH! We're staying here until morning. That's it. We can watch a movie or something, to distract ourselves, but neither you, nor I, are setting foot out of this house until then."

Cutlery clinked loudly as she gathered up the plates.

That evening, they watched "Alice in Wonderland". Claire had a strange obsession with it, and was able to relax into the story of playing cards, white rabbits and unusual words. At one point, a creature came bounding right up to the screen, and Claire got a shock and grabbed George's hand, only to realise what she'd done and drop it again, as if it were painful to touch. Their eyes met for a moment, but Claire blushed and returned her attention to the film.

They both woke up early. There was nothing for breakfast, apart from a few pieces of stale bread that they chewed on. They were staring at a map of the town and surrounding area, trying to figure out where on earth their friends could be.

The doorbell rang.

They froze. It rang again, and Claire was the first to come to her senses. She reached for the Swiss Army knife she now kept up her sleeve at all times, and held it tightly. Cautiously, she opened the door. Standing on the front porch was a girl, and judging from her height, Claire thought she was about five or six.

"Morning announcement. All tribes are to report to their nearest service station by three this afternoon. We will take a register of who is alive and well, and who is missing. Questions?" She asked, showing a large gap between her front teeth.

"How are we going to get there?"

"The roads are quiet. If you leave soon, you'll be there in time."

"Roads?"

"Yes. You have your choice of cars in the street."

Claire stood there, baffled. George appeared, seemingly judging there to be no threat.

"We will be there soon. "Will we be staying overnight?"

"Yes. Take enough things for a week. Maybe longer. Food and a place to stay will be provided for you."

"Thanks", George replied. He smiled at the girl, and shut the door. "Who's driving?"

They had packed, and Claire had already selected the car. It was a Fiat 500, a small Italian make, one which she had been admiring for a while. She threw her heavy suitcase into the back, along with a stack of books, and slid into the driver's seat. They had a large argument about who was driving, but Claire won, because she had watched her dad take a test drive in the car before.

They followed a map to the service station. The girl was right, there was no traffic, and the only real obstacles were finding the way and trying to avoid the cars that were left by the side of the road. After deciding they needed something cheerful, they plugged Claire's IPod into the slot in the fancy car, and played music the rest of the way.

They were shown to a hotel nearby, and were told that they had to share a room due to the many people who were expected to arrive. They unpacked the car, and Claire sat down on the bed with a book.

"I'll sleep on the floor if you want." George said awkwardly.

"I'll get them to bring up some spare bedding or something." Claire didn't want to make anything more awkward.

George sat down on the bed next to her, and brought out a book. It was one he had borrowed from Claire a while ago, but had forgotten to read.

A few hours later, there was a loud knock on the door followed by a cry of "Dinner and a meeting! Go down to building three, please, where you will find the cafe and the rest of the people."


	7. The others

_A/N I just decided to update again because, you know. I haven't been updating much lately, so I feel like I should make up for that. Thanks for the reviews by the way! And keep them coming! I love hearing what you guys have to say, it's really good for me to know what you think! Happy reading! _

Chapter 7 – the others.

The cafe was crowded, filled with children of all shapes and sizes. They were all wearing something that adhered to their particular group: there was a group (or "tribe" as they were known) of small girls, dressed head to toe in pink and princess dresses. A group of boys ran past wearing superhero outfits. George and I stood out the most. He was tall, and awkward looking, and I was small, and awkward looking.

We sat down at the nearest free table, and two plates of food were slammed down in front of us. A mixture of chips, salad and fried vegetables. Most of the kids had eaten the chips, and shouted for pudding! We ate as much as we could, but the strange combination of food, and the fact that we were still freaking out about our friends who had mysteriously disappeared, meant that we didn't much feel like eating.

Back in the room, we looked at the map, and wondered (not for the first time) where on earth we were , and why our friends had not appeared.

"What if they're back at the house, now, waiting for us?" Claire had bitten off most of her nails, a bad habit that she got into when she was stressed.

"I left a dozen messages on the kitchen table. If they got back, they would have set off as soon as possible to find us."

"This place is so vast that they might even be here, and we don't know. We're so useless." Claire slumped against a wall, tears rolling down her cheeks. She bent her head down, trying to stop the tears, trying to shut out the world.

George put his arms around her and hugged her tightly. Though surprised, Claire found herself tightly wound in his embrace, and hugged him back. He was almost a head taller than her, and she had to stand on tiptoe. They stayed like that for a while, not needing to say anything, just happy to be in the other's company.

At last, they parted, and George used his hand to wipe the tear stains on her cheeks. He kissed her forehead, so gently. She gasped, and blushed a shade of scarlet.

The next day, they had to complete a survey. Claire noticed that it was a bit like the census she had helped her dad fill in, a few years ago. It was basically asking them where they were staying, and how many of them were staying there. The small children had to have theirs read out to them. Claire filled in the names of all her friends, their ages, and, with a bit of guesswork, their birthdays. She missed them all so much, and wanted to see them so badly.

The last question was something that they never thought they would have to answer. It read:

_Does your tribe have a name? If so, what is it? _

They looked at each other, confused. They hadn't really had time to think of a name. With most of their group missing, it was difficult to think of anything. But it seemed like a waste to just say that they hadn't chosen a name.

"What about the Wallflowers?" Claire asked, referring to a group of friends in the book she had been reading.

"What about the Outcasts? It fits us perfectly!"

Claire agreed enthusiastically, and that is what they became known as.


	8. The Outcasts

A/N _I'm so busy at the moment! But I'm still trying to find time to update here. Hope you still like the story! I know I keep asking, but it helps me improve my writing and it is nice to hear what you think! Anyway, back to the story..._

Chapter 8 – The Outcasts

When they got back to Claire's house a week later, they found that things had almost returned to normal. There was a newspaper, with misspelt words, but a newspaper nonetheless. Kids were playing football across the street.

Claire walked into the house, seeing nothing but mess and disorder. After a cup of coffee and a quick chat with George, she began to tidy and clean the house from top to bottom. She started with her room, which was fairly tidy anyway, then went on to the other girls rooms and the downstairs area. George was elected to sort out the boys rooms.

They collapsed on the squashy sofa a few hours later, happy with their amazing blitz of housework.

George had been staring at the newspaper for a while, occasionally using a highlighter to circle something. Claire's glasses tipped up on her nose, and she read the circled parts over his shoulder.

"Ashleigh Marks, Lydia Tomas...George, these are all familiar names. What's going on?"

He looked up. "They're all people from our school. They were all fifteen or over."

"Why are their names there anyway?"

"It's not really a paper. More of a Missing Persons list." His explanation shocked Claire into action.

"We have to find the others before they end up here. We just have to."

"I agree."

"We need more information. I want to know who is actually running the country at the moment!" Claire's outburst was unexpected. George, unsure what to say, stood up off the couch and walked over to the now utterly useless television set. He seemed to just stare at the buttons on it, as if waiting for something to happen.

Ironically, something did happen.

The doorbell sounded, loud in the awkward silence. _Ding dong._

The pair stood, as if frozen. George was the first to move.

"Hello?" It was more of a question than a greeting as he opened the door.

It was a teenager, dressed all in black with a wild haircut. George couldn't tell if the teen was male or female, but didn't want to ask.

"Is this the last known residence of Mel, Christie, Luke and Aaron, all part of the Outcasts tribe?"

Claire walked through as George was nodding eagerly.

"We've found them. If you want to see them again, I suggest you go to this address." The teen handed Claire a piece of paper with some letters scrawled on it. "Oh and one more thing, please sign both your names here."

They did as they were told and the teenager walked away. As soon as George had slammed the door, they both started talking crazily at once.

"WE'RE LEAVING NOW!" Claire screamed. George didn't need to think twice about going against what she said.


	9. Pizza anyone?

A/N _This is the very last chapter, I'm sorry to say. I hope you like it, and an extra big thank you to all my reviewers and readers. You've all been awesome! So, I bet you're dying to find out how this ends, so on with the story! _

Chapter 9 – Pizza anyone?

They reached the address in the early hours of the morning. It was a public school, from the looks of it. A bland cream coloured building with a flat roof and a football field, with a concrete parking area to the side of it. All the curtains were drawn closed and it had a rather ominous atmosphere.

Claire was the first person out of the car, strapping on her backpack and sprinting towards the doors. George slammed the car door, and the familiar click of the keys told him that the car was locked. He ran after Claire, and stopped a few feet away, staring at the sign above their heads. It was painted with a red ink of some kind, hung over the doorway:

_This is the temporary prison. No visitors allowed. _

"Is this a freaking wind-up?" George voiced both of their thoughts.

"Let's see what we can do." Claire walked up to one of the windows nearest to her and took a tube of red lipstick out, proceeding to coat her lips with it. A few dabs of powder, some big jewellery and she looked like a completely different person. At George's confused expression, she said "It's stage make-up. It makes me look older."

George didn't ask. He knew better then that. When Claire had a plan, any interruptions tended to have an adverse effect.

They walked into the entrance hall, Claire striding out confidently and George trying to match her pace. He'd forgotten that she went to acting classes. She marched up to the office window, which was opened by a boy in an ill-fitting guard uniform. "No visitors."

"Actually, I'm a reporter, for the Weekly News, and I'm doing a survey of all the public buildings around here. " Claire pursed her red lips impatiently.

The guard considered this. "Then who's that?" Pointing at George.

"He's my Personal Assistant." Claire rattled off the words like they were actually true.

"This is an unusual case. But I didn't let you in, alright?" The guard grimaced as he unlocked the doors.

As soon as they were in, Claire's act dropped. They had to break their friends out of prison, while pretending to be a journalist and a PA. This wasn't going to be easy.

"We have to split up." George voiced the obvious.

"Fine. Meet back here in thirty minutes. If one of us is more than ten minutes late, tell the guard we got lost and separated."

"How are we going to find them?"

"I presume they must be in some kind of order. They're keeping the prisoners in different classrooms. You check all the ones along the ground floor, I'll do the first floor and when we meet back in thirty minutes, we'll do the second floor together. Unless of course we've already found them, in which case we...umm..."

"OK, let's just stay together."

They walked along the first corridor. Because it was a school, it was simple to navigate and laid out in a simple format. The doors of the classrooms had the name of the prisoners and their tribes written on them in the same red lettering used on the sign outside the entrance hall. The ground floor was a waste of time. The second floor, however, had a door painted with _Mel, Christie, Luke and Aaron, Outcasts._ The tribe name was a joke now.

The door could only be locked and unlocked from the outside. The key was even in the lock. This was way too easy.

The door swung open to reveal four unsmiling people, chained to desks in the classroom. Their expressions changed instantaneously as they realised who it was.

Rushing towards them to greet them, the joy written on all their faces, the happiness of finally seeing their friends again. They all hugged and said how much they had missed each other. As quickly as they could, the rushed out and down the stairs. The door guard was walking around there. They turned into a corner and crouched there, to whisper a plan.

"That's the only way out."  
"We need a distraction, something to get rid of the guard."

"I've got it!"The sound of Claire's voice echoed around the cream coloured walls. "I'll distract him with my journalist disguise, while you run into the entrance hall. I'll get him to open the doors for us, so you can run out, then we'll run out."

Nobody had a better plan.

Claire dragged George out with her. "Hi again." She smiled confidently. "I got most of the information I needed, but I'd quite like an interview with you. Front page perhaps?"

The guard looked conflicted and then, after a short pause, agreed.

Claire started to ask him meaningless questions, while George, with a notebook from Claire's backpack, scribbled random words. George was also keeping one eye on the others, who were starting to creep into the entrance hall.

His thoughts went back to Claire who was saying "So could you show me what mechanism you have to open the doors?"

The guard obliged and pushed a button, all the while explaining how this had been specially adapted so that no one could get in or out without his permission. His eyes were on Claire as he spoke to her, with his back to the office window, so he didn't see the four prisoners walk casually out the door into the parking lot.

"Thanks very much. I'm sure you'll see this on the front page of your local newspaper very soon." She flashed him a brilliant smile and walked out the door he opened for her.

They all crammed into the car and drove away.

When they were on the motorway, Claire started asking questions. "Why were you there? Who put you there? Why was there only one guard?"

Aaron answered them all. "We went to all the supermarkets, but they were all empty. And there was a house, quite near here, that was open. We thought it was abandoned, and there was a fridge full of food. We took it all, and drove away. Unfortunately, it was the house of someone who had installed security cameras, the house of the guard you were talking to. All the other people who were n prison were only there until someone collected them. We were the last people there. He knew a message had been sent to you by mistake, and so took every precaution to prevent you from getting us back."

"We need to make an agreement that there will be no stealing in the future. We're planting a garden and things like that. George and I are learning to live in this world. You need to do that as well." Claire's answer was more than they could have hoped for.

"Yes." They chorused.

"Now, I fancy going out for dinner. Pizza anyone?"

The End.

A/N _So, what did you think? This was a completely unplanned chapter and I hope you liked it. Thanks for reading and reviewing, and for putting up with my writing. You guys have been awesome :)_


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